Life
Nalle in British Open 2009 - Arrival
08-Sep-09 20:10
As two years ago I took KLM flight from Helsinki to Amsterdam and then another leg to Manchester. Flights were in time and as KLM has improved service it was a nice experience to fly. Luckily there was 2 hours stop over in Amsterdam giving enough time to dinner at the Schiphol airport. 
Today’s lunch brought me back to the reality. I tried to eat in local pub, but the waiter ignored me completely and I walked out after checking emails. Free WiFi was the main reason to go there anyway. Sometime later I found a nice Italian restaurant and ordered spaghetti carbonara. That’s my favorite pasta and I have eaten it in 100+ restaurants all over the world. Spaghetti carbonara has always tasted good, except today. It will be tough week to find any decent food here even if I have lowered the expectations before traveling to UK.
At the Northern squash club everything have been well organized. I even succeeded to get a practice court right after arrival. It was nice to train volleys, drop shots and tricks on the glass backwall court when Amr Swelim (EGY) and Shaun Le Roux (ENG) played their PSA match on the next court. Court was good and my touch was excellent even if I have not been able to play properly in one month due to repeating hamstring injuries. After practicing I was talking with four Pakistani players. They had seen me on the court and asked my PSA ranking. I asked their opinion and they said that you have a nice touch, your ranking is 150!!! As they also estimated me 10 years younger I feel unbeatable in tomorrow’s match in men over 45 category. If the hamstring does not disagree.
Today’s lunch brought me back to the reality. I tried to eat in local pub, but the waiter ignored me completely and I walked out after checking emails. Free WiFi was the main reason to go there anyway. Sometime later I found a nice Italian restaurant and ordered spaghetti carbonara. That’s my favorite pasta and I have eaten it in 100+ restaurants all over the world. Spaghetti carbonara has always tasted good, except today. It will be tough week to find any decent food here even if I have lowered the expectations before traveling to UK.
At the Northern squash club everything have been well organized. I even succeeded to get a practice court right after arrival. It was nice to train volleys, drop shots and tricks on the glass backwall court when Amr Swelim (EGY) and Shaun Le Roux (ENG) played their PSA match on the next court. Court was good and my touch was excellent even if I have not been able to play properly in one month due to repeating hamstring injuries. After practicing I was talking with four Pakistani players. They had seen me on the court and asked my PSA ranking. I asked their opinion and they said that you have a nice touch, your ranking is 150!!! As they also estimated me 10 years younger I feel unbeatable in tomorrow’s match in men over 45 category. If the hamstring does not disagree.
How to loose fat
02-Mar-09 23:27
First ask your personal trainer or nutritional specialist to define your daily energy consumption level, then tune carbs level and follow screencast’s advices and examples. Buy a kitchen scale (0-1 kg) so that you know how much you are eating. Throw away or hide your body scale and use a tape measure to follow progress once a week or bi-weekly. And remember that the devil is in the details!
Goals and New Year's promises
04-Jan-09 23:57
Happy Squash Year to everyone! And apologies for not blogging for a long time.
1000 times GoGo
It took Nalle 4 years to reach 1000 visit limit in GoGo fitness center. That is not an extraordinary achievement as some GoGo members have reached 1k limit in half time. Yes, that’s 500 visits in a year. But it was more hours on the squash court than anyone else. And it’s not only squash, but also gym, spinning, and stretching (!) got their shares.
New Year’s promises
Year 2008 was a good year. Many of the old goals were achieved e.g. Nalle lost 20 kg of fat, and made a bungee jump. Also playing in the World Masters was the goal of the year for many senior players.
Wait a minute. What is this talk about goals and New Year’s promises? First of all, goals and promises are about the same thing. They are set / given in order to achieve something. Or at least to help to work towards something. And that’s why setting goals and making promises is important. Important not only in daily life and work, but also in squash.
And then the New Year’s promise. I, Diabolito, promise to blog at least as frequently in 2009 than during the last month. And my goal is to blog more often than during the last month. Did you notice the difference of promise and goal?
1000 times GoGo
It took Nalle 4 years to reach 1000 visit limit in GoGo fitness center. That is not an extraordinary achievement as some GoGo members have reached 1k limit in half time. Yes, that’s 500 visits in a year. But it was more hours on the squash court than anyone else. And it’s not only squash, but also gym, spinning, and stretching (!) got their shares.
New Year’s promises
Year 2008 was a good year. Many of the old goals were achieved e.g. Nalle lost 20 kg of fat, and made a bungee jump. Also playing in the World Masters was the goal of the year for many senior players.
Wait a minute. What is this talk about goals and New Year’s promises? First of all, goals and promises are about the same thing. They are set / given in order to achieve something. Or at least to help to work towards something. And that’s why setting goals and making promises is important. Important not only in daily life and work, but also in squash.
And then the New Year’s promise. I, Diabolito, promise to blog at least as frequently in 2009 than during the last month. And my goal is to blog more often than during the last month. Did you notice the difference of promise and goal?
Goals achieved
12-Oct-08 23:22
Goal #1 (December 2004)
When joining to GoGo sports club in Tampere nearly 5 years ago Nalle set the goal to loose 20 kg of weight. Back then Nalle’s weight was 104-105 kg. As someone of you might recall it from Nalle’s (now discontinued) blog, it was not clearly set goal. Was the intention to loose 20 kg of weight or did it matter if it was fat, body liquids, and muscles. Naturally, the intention was to loose fat.
Achievement (fat -20 kg, weight -10 kg)
In April the weight was 94 kg. Quick math says that 104 kg minus 94 kg is 10 kg. Why is it then claimed that the goal was achieved? Well, actually 20 kg of fat disappeared and 10 kg in muscles was gained.
Goal #2 (April 2008)
So in April scale showed 94±0.5 kg and there was only six months to the World Masters 2008 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Something had to be done to improve squash game. Yes, you knew it. Loose weight. This time 10 kg of fat.
Achievement (fat -10 kg, weight -10 kg)
From the beginning of August the scale has been showing 84.5-85.5 kg and just few days before traveling to New Zealand the scale showed 84.1 kg. Same week body fat was measured to be 10.7%.
Before and After
Photos tell more than the words. Before and After photos. Thanks to Krister Koivula for providing a photo from the archives.
How did it happen?
Shortly said, first goal was achieved by reducing eating dramatically and increasing energy consumption (this was not so clever way). Second goal was achieved by following a dietary plan made by a specialist, Matti “Guru” Halonen (that was easier and much better way). The devil is in the details, which is worth an other blog entry.
When joining to GoGo sports club in Tampere nearly 5 years ago Nalle set the goal to loose 20 kg of weight. Back then Nalle’s weight was 104-105 kg. As someone of you might recall it from Nalle’s (now discontinued) blog, it was not clearly set goal. Was the intention to loose 20 kg of weight or did it matter if it was fat, body liquids, and muscles. Naturally, the intention was to loose fat.
Achievement (fat -20 kg, weight -10 kg)
In April the weight was 94 kg. Quick math says that 104 kg minus 94 kg is 10 kg. Why is it then claimed that the goal was achieved? Well, actually 20 kg of fat disappeared and 10 kg in muscles was gained.
Goal #2 (April 2008)
So in April scale showed 94±0.5 kg and there was only six months to the World Masters 2008 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Something had to be done to improve squash game. Yes, you knew it. Loose weight. This time 10 kg of fat.
Achievement (fat -10 kg, weight -10 kg)
From the beginning of August the scale has been showing 84.5-85.5 kg and just few days before traveling to New Zealand the scale showed 84.1 kg. Same week body fat was measured to be 10.7%.
Before and After
Photos tell more than the words. Before and After photos. Thanks to Krister Koivula for providing a photo from the archives.
How did it happen?
Shortly said, first goal was achieved by reducing eating dramatically and increasing energy consumption (this was not so clever way). Second goal was achieved by following a dietary plan made by a specialist, Matti “Guru” Halonen (that was easier and much better way). The devil is in the details, which is worth an other blog entry.